Fifa is investigating whether transport and ticket distribution systems failed
after at least 8,000 seat-holders failed to attend the World Cup match
between South Korea and Greece in Port Elizabeth.

No man's land: Fifa are launching an investigation after the World Cup clash between South Korea and Greece had 8,000 empty seats unaccounted for.Photo: REUTERS

By Telegraph staff and agencies

1:54PM BST 13 Jun 2010

The problem appeared to occur for a second straight day, as another match between two of the World Cup's less glamorous sides - Algeria and Slovenia - kicked off in Polokwane at 1:30 p.m. local time with about one-third of seats empty.

Only 31,513 people attended South Korea's 2-0 victory on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which holds 42,486 spectators for World Cup games.

Fifa had said just 3,000 tickets were available on the morning of the match.

"It looked like a lot of people did not show up at the stadium. We are investigating this," Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said Sunday.

Before the tournament, Fifa aimed to ensure full stadiums by offering cut-price tickets for matches which proved less attractive to fans in the worldwide sales process.

Host cities were offered group deals to allocate seats among local businesses and public service workers.

Maingot said Fifa helped pay for bus transport to bring South African fans to the lower-demand games.

"We have been pro-active on that, and we asked for a system to be put in place. Apparently, that has not completely worked," he said. "We are working on this to make sure this is not the case for a potential few others of those games."

Fifa said Sunday that 700 unsold tickets were available hours before Algeria and Slovenia played in the 41,733-capacity Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Transport has been a difficult issue in the early days of a World Cup that is proving a popular success with host nation fans and visitors.

Organizing committee officials experienced what they called "challenges" getting 84,490 fans to a sold-out Soccer City in Johannesburg on Friday for the opening ceremony and South Africa's first match against Mexico.

World Cup and city officials were working to create a more efficient transport plan before the stadium hosts the well-supported Holland playing Denmark in Monday's lunch time kickoff.

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